Britbloggerment 24!

Dive in...

Good beat + Monthly stats

My battles on several fronts continue!I've still not resolved my Setanta complaint and now I'm dealing with Talk Talk moving my phone account too early and refusing to cancel the order despite me being the current account holder.Sorted that now thankfully.

My car cd player stopped working after going over a bump last week and as I've owned it for less than two months and it's still got a years Ford warranty,I took it back to Arnold Clarks.( where I bought it)
They say someone ( implying it was me) has tried to remove it and that it's a chargeable repair.Then they say there's only a one month warranty from Arnolds!I spoke to the manager and he gave me a new JVC cd player to get fitted myself but I still aint a happy acorn!

To the poker and as much as I hate the format ,I did enjoy the RTR Limit game last night mainly due to the usual banter flying around.I didn't last too long and played a $16 ,18 player NL game afterwards.I just scraped into the money in that one and wasn't happy with one or two of my plays.

My secret Santa Interpoker account was my next stop.( so called because I don't include it or my Bet 365 accounts in my bankroll).After the recent bad beat I posted I thought it only fair to post this hand where I hit an unlikely two outer to scoop the pot and keep my Inter account from busting.It's about the only decent luck I've had all week! Here's the easy to read pokerhand version.

Game #4453849003: Hold'em NL (£0.25/£0.50) - 2007/08/31 - 00:27:15 (UK)
Table "Rienzi" Seat 2 is the button.
Seat 1: Chr050275 (£27.74 in chips)
Seat 2: Mar090183 (£12.60 in chips)
Seat 3: Vesel2003 (£7.53 in chips)
Seat 4: Dazza_32 (£44.45 in chips)
Seat 5: stevecorn (£147.80 in chips)
Seat 6: RadjaDaox (£55.30 in chips)
Seat 7: millford (£81.63 in chips)
Seat 8: Bj_player (£24.25 in chips)
Seat 9: Zagga (£33.50 in chips) :I'd bought in for £35 ,leaving me £8 in my account.I don't usually ever buy in short.
Seat 10: ___kjd___ (£18.67 in chips)
Vesel2003: posts small blind £0.25
Dazza_32: posts big blind £0.50
----- HOLE CARDS -----
dealt to Zagga [Kh Kd]

stevecorn: calls £0.50
RadjaDaox: calls £0.50
millford: folds
Bj_player: calls £0.50

Zagga: raises to £2.50 ( three limpers so I'll make it 5bb to go...)
___kjd___: folds
Chr050275: folds
Mar090183: calls £2.50
Vesel2003: calls £2.25
Dazza_32: folds
stevecorn: calls £2
RadjaDaox: raises to £26.50 ( Oh dear, I hope that's not Rockets!)
Bj_player: folds
Zagga: raises to £33.50 and is all-in ( not messing about with 2nd best hand)
Mar090183: is all-in £10.10
Vesel2003: is all-in £5.03
stevecorn: folds
RadjaDaox: calls £7
----- FLOP ----- [8d 8c Ks] ( wooooot!)

----- TURN ----- [8d 8c Ks][9s]

----- RIVER ----- [8d 8c Ks 9s][4h]

----- SHOW DOWN -----
Zagga: shows [Kh Kd] (A Full House, Kings full of Eights)

Mar090183: shows [6d 6h] (Two Pairs, Eights and Sixes, King high)

Vesel2003: shows [3c 7s] (A Pair of Eights, King high)

RadjaDaox: shows [Ac Ah] (Two Pairs, Aces and Eights, King high) ( Ouch!!)
Zagga collected £41.20 from Side pot #2
Zagga collected £14.46 from Side pot #1
Zagga collected £31.97 from Main pot
----- SUMMARY -----
Total pot £90.63 Main pot £31.97 Side pot #1 £14.46 | Side pot #2 £41.20 | Rake £3
Board [8d 8c Ks 9s 4h]

Seat 9: Zagga showed [Kh Kd] and won (£87.63) with A Full House, Kings full of Eights

My end of the month bankroll stats are as follows....... Pokerstars $504,Pokerroom $500,Ladbrokes $2011,Full Tilt $1603,Party $1147
Total = $5765 ( + $297 since Aug 12th)

Bring on the Barca!

My cousin came over on Tuesday night and we watched Rangers get the 0-0 draw required to send us into the group stages of the Champions league.It's worth about £10 million to the club and qualification is vital to a club of Rangers stature.Just seen the draw for the group stages and we've got a tough group.
It's Barcelona,Stuttgart and Lyon!I can't wait to see Ronaldinho,Messi,Henry and Eto at Ibrox! Roll on!

We logged onto Stars afterwards and I let my cousin play a few wee $3 sng's on my account and although he's played a few live games,he's never played online and was baffled by the speed of the action.If someone takes more than 5 seconds to make their move it feels like forever to me and I'd forgotten how quick it seems when you're not used to it.

Last night was the Raisetheriver Heads up shoot-out and I played Mr Cloud in the first round.It was a tight battle which swung back and forth a few times without either of us taking a huge lead.Eventually with two Jacks on the board and both of us holding a Jack,we got our money in the middle and Mr Clouds ten kicker beat mine and out I went.Mr C played well and I'm glad he went on to beat several others and win the whole thing.

Tonight is the Snooze holdem event! Yes,it's the Fixed Limit event and although I'm strictly a No Limit player, I will give it a go.First up is a visit to the garage to get my Car cd player working again followed by picking up Nacho and heading over to my Mum and Dads for dinner.( ex Mrs A is away until Sat)

Ok, don't forget to register for Sundays Britbloggerment game on Stars....

More long rambling bollocks!

I played the first event of the raisetheriver Wsop last night and ended up being first out when my hammer ( 72 o/s) was crushed by an obviously inferior hand!I raised preflop ,was called by someone with 99 and they just couldn't make the laydown on a ragged 9 high flop after I pushed all in.Very fishy!

In between helping Step A with homework I watched a little of the game as it progressed and once again I was impressed by Kenns aggressive play.Like the great Mr Brunson ( Doyle,not the Grange Hill teacher), Kenns style is to raise often and win many pots uncontested.

This means that when he does raise with a hand like 4h5h he may win 50% ( at least) of the time without showdown, or if reraised, the pot odds and his ( usually large stack) mean he can take a gamble as a 60/40% underdog.

This constant raising means he gets action on his big hands too and although I feel he sometimes pushes a little too hard ,he will not actually put his tourney on the line without a real hand.I bet the table were glad to see the back of him last night when he finally went out!

I played a $16 turbo ( 18 player) and finished 6th after making a really stupid play.One other factor I forgot to mention in Kenns favour is that his play ruffles a few feathers as people don't like being pushed about at the tables.This of course helps him further as people can get emotional and make mistakes.

One of the strongest parts of my game is that I don't get annoyed at being pushed around or outplayed.I simply look to adapt my game and learn from it.For example,if someone shows me a bluff headsup then I don't show them one back the next time I bluff.Better to keep 'em guessing and show them their bluff didn't get any reaction.


I did let a villain get to me last night at that Stars turbo and I've really no idea why he got under my skin.Actually, I think it was the fact he was cold calling raises with rubbish and hitting, which is an absurd reason to get frustrated.( there's a big difference between calling a reraise with 2 live cards and simply being a calling station who flat calls raises)

I had 6k and with 6 left an ITM ( top 4 get paid in 18 player games) finish beckoned until I picked up A10 in the small blind.All folded to me and I raised the villains big blind,he took forever and shoved and I made the donkey call ,crashing out to his AJ.Doh!!


Ok,I promised myself I'd try and cut down on long rambling bollocks posts! Maybe I'll start tomorrow....

Bad Beat Sunday

With only 18 runners in the Bloggerment last night I'm left wondering if perhaps it's run it's course.There were only 22 players last week compared to a record high of 39 only a few short weeks ago.Perhaps the entry fee should be raised for the first game of every month to liven it up a little? No plans to change anything just now, but I hope to see more of the previous regulars back again soon!

Bloggerment 24 is now open for registration.Early registration appreciated.Tourney id at Pokerstars is 59478864 and it's on Sunday Sept 2nd at 4pm est/9pm UK time under the Private tourney tab.Password is donkament and it's only $5.50 to enter...

Congrats to Matty H for winning it and thanks to my US blogger buddy Gcox25 for making his debut in the game.It seems a long time since the days of the original DADI ( Donkeys always draw invitational) and the USA v ROW games we used to play and which Gcox25 helped organise.

I came 8th after first losing a race with AK V JJ and then seeing my 77 fall to Sookraboabys AQ.I also finished 8th in a $16 ,18 player turbo I played last night before deciding to move to Inter and play some cash poker.

I know we all suffer 'em and there's nothing more boring than hearing about 'em, but this one stung and I need to get it off my chest.To avoid a bad beat tale please stop reading now and move over to one of the fine links on the right.If not then here's the tale of woe and here's the hand.

Still here? Ok, I'd played an orbit or two at a £50nl full ring table and was in the cut-off when I picked up 22.It was raised to £3.50 by someone in early position and called by a mid-position player.Both players had decent sized stacks which meant getting paid if I did hit my set.

The flop came 2s 6d 3d and the orignal raiser bet £8 into the £11 pot.It was called by a mid position player before the action was on me.I decided to reraise to £16 and hopefully make it look as if I was trying to build a pot with a flush draw or that I was testing to see if the original raiser had AK/AQ and had missed the flop.

He pushed for the rest of his £117 stack, mid-position folded and I called.He flipped KK and hit his King on the river.

Ahh that's better!

Behind the 8 ball..

I watched Rangers beat Kilmarnock 2-1 yesterday before settling down for some pokery fun later on.I have a decent sng record at 'Stars $16 ,18 player turbos, although I only ever usually play one at a time, which may be profitable, but at $2 per game is never going to build much of a roll.

Last night I decided on two tabling the sng's and tried starting two at once and also beginning a new game after I'd either reached the 3rd level ,( 15 mins ) or when I'd built a decent stack at the first game.

I racked up 35 games in total and the first thing I learned was nothing new and that is that variance is still a biatch! I took some terrible beats as game after game I got my money in the middle as favourite and game after game the turn or river delivered the seemingly odds on miracle card to knock me or or cripple my stack.That nasty poker nightmare of bad beats and losing every 50/50 race meant I had soon reduced my $570 Stars roll to a recent low of $243.

I must have gone 0/15 at least or maybe even 0/20 as far as in the money finishes and in truth my game was beginning to go downhill too as I began making poor decisions to go with the beats.I was close to giving up on the idea that I could ever two table these sng's as profitably as I play one table, when I finally picked up my first win.

I realised I'd been very unlucky but had also been pushing a little too hard to try and make things happen.I've played with some fine multi-tablers at Stars sngs and they often simply seem to be shoving with any pair or high Ace at anytime and I think I tried to hard to copy that rather than sticking to what works for me.

The bottom line is that I won a few ,came 2nd and 3rd a few times and finished only $15 down from my 35 games.Considering the mental angst I had been suffering after my 15-20 straight crash outs, I felt quite pleased with my resilience.I only subscribe to Sharkscopes 150 searches per day option, so I was also happy to have turned things around even without the use of my favourite sng tracker.Here's the updated graph of last nights shennanigans...





I do need to play more standard speed sngs/mtt's though, as the weakest part of my game is the stage in the where the blinds are not really worth stealing, but they are just big enough to hurt if I've not built a big stack.In the last couple of blogger tourneys I've found myself checking the lobby to see when the blinds go up only to discover there's another ten minutes remaining.The joys of being a turbo junkie I suppose!

Oh, I bubbled in Fridays Raise the river premier league game when I ran my 1010 into JJ.That result leaves me 2nd in the league after four games and I'm looking forward to playing in the Raisetheriver WSOP which starts tomorrow.I plan to play the Holdem events, although I may have to miss the Headsup game on Wednesday as the Rangers game is on.Follow the link on the right,sign up and play!

Before that though don't forget to register for tonights Britbloggerment game on Stars.See previous post for details and remember that although there are leagues running for the individuals and countries, these are only for a bit of fun and anyone is welcome to join the Bloggerment.( you don't have to have played before or commit to playing every week!).You will be made welcome!

King of Coos Keech!

Result!!! I was going to start with the Coos keech nonsense but I've just had a chat with the ex Mrs A and she has agreed that when I move back home I can still give Step A a lift to school in the morning.My flat is only 10 minutes away and I'm delighted I'll get to see the wee one every day.As a bonus the ex has said she will clean my flat every Friday for me.We're getting on quite well just now and hopefully we can keep that going.


Righty,back to the nonsense....

Mr Cloud and Mr Punch can keep their "hairy gymnast"! I'm the King of Coos Keech!Undisputed Numero Uno google search for it! I'm almost overcome with joy...

My car stereo has packed in!!( with my newly burned Amy Winehouse cd stuck in it) I had to amuse Step A this morning on the way to school by slowing down at every bus-stop full of kids and threatening to wind down my window and shout "say good morning to little Step A everyone" or "the mighty midget is on her way to school,give her a wave!".This induced much gnashing of teeth from Step A!Why this would embarass a 13yr old I've no idea...

I wasn't really in a poker mood last night and ended up watching tv and then Ram Vaswani kicking ass at a high stakes Full tilt table.

I did play two $16 turbos ( 18 player as usual) on Stars and only have myself to blame for two fairly early exits although I felt both my decisions were marginal.

On the first hand I had A8 on the button and limped after four others had done the same.The flop was As 7c 9c and was checked round to me.I would have expected anyone with a better Ace to have raised preflop.A weaker Ace would have bet out on that flop with flush draw out there, therefore I bet out 3/4 of the pot and was surprised to get a caller.The turn brought a 10d and although that completed a possible straight draw ,I had the 8 and when it was checked to me I pushed with my pair and draw,only for the villain to show his J8...

The hand that sent me packing from the next game was J10 in the big blind.Everyone folded to the small blind who completed and we saw a K Q 7 flop.I checked and called the villains 100 bet on the flop and turn before pushing all in on a total bluff after another 100 river bet from him.I had hoped to push him off if he had the Queen or a weak king but he felt his K7 was good and called.Baaaaaa!

Ok,don't forget to register for the Bloggerment game on Sunday.It looks like I'm finally going to win it....because I'm the only entrant so far! It's only $5.50 and any blogger/reader is welcome to play in it.Hope to see you there...

Rolling,Rolling,Rolling...

After receiving a £20 cheque from the airport transfer company that didn't turn up when the ex and I left our Ibiza hotel in June,I'm now after a refund from Setanta sports.I paid the( alledged) robbing bassa's £180,by credit card, last August as a one off for a years subscription to their sports channels.

This year ( not to save me from tears!), they have reduced the cost to £9.99 per month and the contract is now monthly.Despite this they have taken another £180 from my credit card and say the small print in their terms and conditions stated it was a rolling contract.Now I do plenty of rolling, but I don't need no contract to do so!


No renewal letter was sent to me and nothing was said at the time of sale to indicate what would happen this year.I put my complaint to them by email and two weeks later they now they have requested it in writing by snail mail.When I move back home and take cable tv I get Setanta free so why would I pay a for a year ( especially at that price) up front?!

I noticed the other day that allofmp3.com has been closed and my balance moved to mp3sparks.com.I tested the new site by downloading the Amy Winehouse album and after listening to the first few tracks I quite like it.It's about time I delved into some new tunes.Gotta love those Ruskie sites!

In other news I passed football referee Stuart Dougal in the street yesterday and managed to resist questioning his parentage as I have done many times at the game.Well done me!

I did watch the football last night and wasn't impressed by the Scotland performance although at I suppose a win is a win.Good to see Boyd scoring again.


On the poker front I only played a couple of $6 ,18 player turbos last night with Rosie and saw my QQ fall to A7 in the first one and managed to come 2nd in the other.

Dinner tonight at Mother and Father Acorns followed by zooming up the road to look after Step A.She's back at school in 2nd year now and I'm enjoying giving her a run there in the mornings again,dishing out my expert advice on school subjects and life in general.


Mind you, I'm not sure I should be giving any advice after hearing that ( thanks to Mother Acorn!)my sister described the trip my cousin and I took to Amsterdam recently as "Dumb and dumber on tour"!


Following on from the coos keech story/video here's another couple I liked from the paper...

We have no wish to dwell on readers' scatological interests, but after our tale of the chap drinking from the stream tainted by "coos' keech" Bill Smith in Eaglesham reminds us of the shepherd interrupted by a haughty walker who demanded to know what he had in front of him.

"Pills to make you wise," replied the shepherd.

At that the walker chewed and swallowed one, declared it had no effect, chewed another couple and then suspiciously declared that he thought they might be sheep droppings.

"See," said the shepherd. "They're beginning to work then."


And the crack about the chap in New York so hot that he was "sweating like a Chinese toy salesman" has put readers into simile mode.

One avers that he regularly uses the incorrect saying "Sweating like a Geordie sitting an A level" while a second is equally insulting by often saying someone was "sweating like a fat bird in a bin bag".

Bloggerment 23!

The meaning of Coos Keech

I didn't see much of the ex last night which I think is probably for the best.It's been 2 months since her "it's not working" speech.At first I blamed myself for being a net/laptop/poker addicted idiot who had blown a good relationship, yet the more thought I give it ,the more I realise I hadn't been happy either for a long time.Being a lazy git, I'd settled into a kind of comfort zone that wasn't easy to give up,especially as giving it up would mean not seeing Step A and Nacho as often as I'd like.

I do regret not working harder to keep the spark going longer, and the quote from Cool Hand Luke "What we have here is a failure to communicate",seems very apt.( and I think we're both to blame for that).I'd never been in a seven year relationship before and I think a big part of me just accepted that perhaps the way were were was just how "everyone" is after such a lengthy time together.

Maybe it just came down to a lack of passion as we very rarely ever argued about anything and as I mentioned before there was very little difference in our interactions during the first couple of weeks after our split compared to our pre-split state.

There is no doubt that I probably do spend too much time online one way or another.I need to ensure that I remember there's far more to life when I move back home and I need to push myself to step out of my comfort zone more often too.

After a day/week of dealing with complaining maniacs I'm not always in a very sociable mood.I've never been a big drinker either ( last alcoholic drink was on holiday back in June)and although I loved dance music and the occasional clubbing excursion, I've never really been a pub person.Having said that, the ex and I managed to spend nearly a month abroad every year over the last 5-6 years and had plenty of nights out.

To the poker and I played a little ABC full ring $50nl last night as I watched some crappy driving programme and one on Abby Titmus which was equally pish.( broke even at the poker)

I decided to play a few wee Headsup $5.25 games and ( no boring bad beat stories here!) was rivered three games running to go crashing out.I stuck to my game plan and managed to finally win a wee 4 player headsup shootout which was a minor relief.

Ok,thanks for reading and for anyone reading yesterdays post and unsure of exactly what coos keech is I thought I'd include this highly technical video clip to explain...

Coos keech

Ahh well ,the world of work continues to charm.Quote of the week so far goes to the guy who was complaining to a phone monkey about being cut off twice on previous calls, and was told "here comes number three" before the line went dead.

It's sounds like an old variation on the "Did you get a note of my name Sir?" routine.When the reply was in the negative, the customer would be politely told "well f*ck off then" before having the phone slammed down on them.

Reminds me of my legendary ex colleague, "The Don", who called a business customer and kept insisting he wanted to speak to Mr J Snoils depsite the customer being adamant ( he was a dandy highwayman) that no Mr Snoils worked there.When the customer asked for Mr Snoils first name and The Don replied "John" ,the customer from Johnston Oils finally realised what was going on...

I'm just off the phone to a woman who claims she spent so much time hanging around the local phone box trying to get through to us that the police questioned her as a possible prostitute! I didn't ask what she was wearing and if she earned enough to cover any compensation she no doubt wishes to claim from us...


I did only played a little poker last night due to feeling very very tired indeed.I did manage to lose half a buy-in at £100nl ( Interpoker) when I called a raise with AQ sooooted and lost to KK on a Queen high board.This was after a couple of failed 50 player,mad tilt turbos at Pokerroom.

I did get a wee boost from Burnley Miks new league table for the bloggerment which sees me sitting at the top of the pile despite never actually winning
one!

Righty here's a quick one from the paper before I go...


Helping hand :Our story of the BBC subtitling the film Sweet Sixteen because it features working-class Greenock accents, reminds Barbara Steel of the chap cupping his hand to scoop water from a Highland burn.

A passing gamekeeper told him: "Mon, ye dinnae want tae be drinking that - it's fu' o' coos' keech."

But the chap replied: "Look, dear boy, I am English and would appreciate it if you would speak to me in English."

So the gamekeeper told him: "Use both hands - you'll get more that way."

Always the...

Congrats to Kenn for taking down the Bloggerment tonight!

I squeaked into second.Nuff said!

I did just win a $16 ,18 player turbo though, which is nice...

Bloggerment tonight 9pm bst.....

After winning that $16 ,18 player turbo the other night at Stars, I eagerly waited for my Sharkscope stats to update as I reckoned they would be looking the healthiest they have in a while,only to find the game wasn't picked up by their tracker.I've contacted them with the tourney id and hopefully it will update soon.I did play a couple of wee heads up $5 games ( out with 99 and AQ to better hands)and of course those losing games registered immediately!

After those Heads up games I hit the cash tables and won $20 playing with my Mum and the San Jose Salmon before hitting up bet365 and Interpoker where I boosted my "take a shot" rolls a little with wins at $100 and £100 nl full ring cash tables.

The £100 nl table at Inter was particularly juicy and played more like the $25nl games I started out on almost three years ago.£4-£5 raises were being called by 4-5 players.It never fails to amaze me just how many truly dreadful players are out there and there only really needs to be one or two at a full ring table to make it worthwhile.

I had a long lie until 2pm today and have been watching the Manchester derby ( childs play compared to Rangers v Celt*c!)and the Liverpool v Chelsea games.

Ok,not much else to say today.I'll leave you with these photos of the recent winners of the "best looking celt*c supporter " award.Enjoy....

Tourney time

I seem to play an awful lot of tourneys for a cash game player!Last night I played three,starting with the Raisetheriver league game, where I managed to scrape into 6th place after a tough game.I don't remember many hands apart from forcing Burnley Mik to lay down his 77 with my overpair to the board, and then going out when I pushed my k2sooted into Dudleys k10.( blinds high by that point)

After I crashed and burned I watched the game play out, and then hit the 365 cash tables where I left with a $5 profit after playing for more than an hour.

A Stars $16,18 player turbo was calling my name and I managed to take it down for a nice wee boost, before remembering Katitudes Friday night $1 donkament rebuy game on Full Tilt, and that was my next stop.One rebuy and one add on was all that I required, and eventually out of 15 runners, I finished 2nd at 5.15am for a $33 pay out.It may have been a $1 donkament but the play was pretty solid most of the time,especially at the final table.

The headsup battle lasted around 20 minutes and swung one way then the other with both of us hitting the occasional miracle card to stay in at times.I eventually went out when my J10 push on a King high board was called by J9soooted and the flush hit on the river.

Not long back from Ibrox where Rangers continued the good start to the season with a 7-2 win over Falkirk with goals from Cousin ( 2), Darchville, ( 2) Whittaker,Boyd and Broadfoot.It's still very early in the season to be thinking about bringing the league title back home, but the chances of us winning a world record 52nd league title are certainly looking better than they were last season.( which isn't saying much considering how crap we were then!)

I had to laugh at the guy behind me as he spends most of the 90 mins abusing our own players and the moment Boyd fired off a long crossfield pass today he was yelling "Boyd ya useless c*nt,what the f*ck is that?" and when it finally landed with pin point accuracy right at the feet of another Gers player he quickly added "lucky,very lucky".The motormouth then asked if we were on drugs for singing Boyds name ....just before Boydy swept the ball into the net! To be fair the motormouth is always willing to laugh about it when he gets it wrong like that and the games wouldn't be the same without him.

I've had my season ticket for about 11 years now ( ever since I started my Mon-Fri office monkey job)and there's a fair few characters near my seat in the traditional Rangers end.I detest the politically correct attitude pervading all of society these days and enjoy letting off steam at the game on a Saturday.I'm not one to sit and politely applaud my team.I begin in a fairly calm ( usually exhausted after a 5am poker finish!)manner, before getting to my feet at the first bad tackle or poor refereeing decision.As the match rolls on I get more and more animated and passionate about what's going on, until it's time to cheer the team off,hit the board overhead on the way out, and get ready to do it all again next week.

Pasta and poker are the plans for this evening.Don't forget to register for tomorrows Bloggerment 22 game.See previous posts for details...

Home game recap

I thoroughly enjoyed the wee home game last night and made over 20% profit on my cash game buy-in.I plan to invest my £1.30 wisely...

We played 5 handed for most of the night and as with any time I've played live poker,the time flew in.I won a couple of hands from the shady player on my right ( my Mum!) and picked a few spots to bluff and take some pots down after that.We played 10/20 pence blinds and stuck to playing cash with every chip worth 10p.It was far quicker than last time out where we played a wee sng and every hand seemed to take hours.

When they left I hit up a few extreme ( blinds up every 3 hands) turbos on 365 before losing $50 at $50nl and then moving up to $100 nl and winning $70 to leave me $10 up overall.

This weekends plan mainly involves poker,football,The Cincinatti Kid and a couple of good books.

In other news I've mentioned before that football managers and the mince they talk really gets my goat.The latest daft quote is Aberdeen manager,Jimmy
Calderwood,stating that even if celt*c manager,Gordon Strachan managed to win the Champions league every year the celt*c supporters still wouldn't take to him.
Aye right Jimmy,I can just see it...
"We may have won it for the fourth time on the trot but we still hate Strachan cos it was his fault Barcelona got that consolation goal when we beat them 8-1 in the final".....

I see the lottery winner made the front page again because she shopped at a discount shopping centre.I read "The Sun" for the football coverage,Striker cartoon and the magnificent Deirdries photo casebook.

It may seem complete rubbish when they quote an "onlooker" as saying "I couldn't believe she was shopping here" or that other shoppers were "stunned" to see her, but I'm sure it's all true because a UK tabloid newspaper would never lie would they?!

I'd still take The Sun anyday over the lefty liberal hand wringing Guardian or the goosestepping "We're all doomed" Daily Mail.In particular some of the "comments" left by readers on the Daily Mail website, ( yes I read it online just to get my blood pressure up!) especially regarding parents of missing Madeline McCann, make me really angry.The McCanns are going through hell and here are people wanting to vilify them for their every move.

Ok,mini rant over..

Here's a wee funny from the Herald which made me smile..

A Holiday tale from reader Stephen Henson. He tells us of three South African chaps on a wine-tasting tour in France who got fed up being shown yet another wine-making process at a chateau. So they took a short-cut from the rest of the tour and headed directly to the wine-tasting room before the group arrived.

They gaily quaffed a few glasses from the vat of wine there until the others caught up. At that, the tour guide handed everyone a glass, filled them from a bottle and said anyone who didn't want to swallow all the wine could spit it into the vat they kept especially for that purpose.

Oops.

Ok,that's it for now.Don't forget everyone is welcome to play in the Bloggerment game on Stars this Sunday at 9pm bst/4pm est.Password is donkament.Only $5.50.

Get registered!

Thus Update

I've not been too motivated to play much poker over the last couple of nights.I did manage a 4th place ( in the money)in a strange wee $16 ,18 player turbo last night.It was strange because my stack was never over $2k ,I never had any decent hands at all, and in truth I just folded into the money.

I have my Mum,cousin,his cousin and the s-man coming over tonight for a little live pokery fun.We'll probably stick to some low stakes cash games or a wee sng or two.

I received an email from Bodog poker regarding a blogger freeroll they are hosting.Unfortunately it's more geared towards our US friends as it starts at 1.35am, but in a follow up email it was mentioned that there will be a similar freeroll for UK players at some point.Roll on!

In other news I see the UK's biggest ever lottery winner is the owner of a top floor ex council flat in East Kilbride.I'm sure Angela Kelly can't wait to share her fortune with other owners of ex-council top floor flats in East Kilbride, and I look forward to receiving my cheque!

Ok,that's all for now...

Bloggerment 22 open for registration

Sun stats + ytd

Not much to post about after last nights play.I won a few $ at Laddies,lost a bit on 365 and played some more Mad Tilt tourneys at Pokeroom.I also played a couple of Heads Up sng's at Stars.I lost the first one and reckoned I had won the 2nd when I trapped my opponent with my Jack high straight.A closer look at the board ( it was late and err smokey )revealed I actually only had Jack high, although if there was a 6th community card I had a great drawing hand!

I feel I need more Heads up experience and more standard speed mtt's to give myself a better chance of winning Bloggerment and raisetheriver type games.In Fridays RTR league game I had a big stack with three left but was crippled by two hands.I ran 88 into QQ and not long later ran 77 into those Nolan sisters.( QQ again)

Straight after the game I felt I couldn't get away from the sevens and eights when three handed ,however on reflection I think I played the end game like it was a turbo.The blinds didn't go up to 200/400 until just after I went out in 3rd and I felt my lack of experience when shorthanded with lowish blinds showed.I still consider myself a cash game player first and foremost.Sngs and mtt's will probably always be a nice change of pace, rather than any kind of serious money maker for me.


Aside from the poker I enjoyed watching Rangers beat St mirren 2-0 at Ibrox yesterday with goals from Ferguson and Cousin.Step A loved her earings and had a good birthday all round including a noisy sleepover with her friends last night.

I'm nearly finished reading Irvine Welsh's "If you liked school,you'll love work" and have been very disappointed with it so far.It's nowhere near as good as Trainspotting,Filth or his other collection of short stories,The Acid House.

The only bit so far that I really enjoyed was the part in one story where the main character is chatting about a girl called Jenni he's lusting after.

He says he'll never be popular with her family after her Dad came into the pub he was in with a couple of blokes.One of them was saying something about a place called Kelty and "of course ah couldnae keep ma big mooth shut.Ah goes " Ya hoor ye,only hoors and miners come fae Kelty".So big Tom Cahill,this Jenni lassies faither ,he looks at me aw hard and goes "Ma wife comes fae Kelty".

Weel,sorry,ah jist says tae um,what pit does she work in?

Made me smile anyways!

Here are a few more clips I like so therfore everyone else must watch and like too!( aint that right Rosie?!)







Ok,here are my latest stats since July 29th...

Pokerstars $258,Full Tilt $1520,Pokerroom $513,Party $1147,Ladbrokes $2030.Total $5468 ( + $344 since July 29th)

Last YTD profit figure on June 7th ( since start of 3rd yr of real money play on Oct 31st) $1599.Bankroll stood at $4254.

Profit since June 7th = $1214. New total YTD profit = $2813.

Unlucky Me

I came 3rd in the raisetheriver league game and won about $80 at Laddies later to take my laddies roll over the $2k mark.( $2004!).Full stats tomorrow.

I've had this post saved as a draft for a while and now seems a good time to GIP....


“My new novel, Attack of the Unsinkable Rubber Ducks, takes its name from a coinage of the magician and sceptic James Randi to describe people who, no matter how much proof you try to submerge them in, always bob back up again with a new reason to keep believing”

The above is a quote from my favourite author Christopher Brookmyre and reminded me of the people who believe that online poker is rigged or fixed in some way.

I've never ever believed that kind of nonsense, although at times there's no doubt that at times I've considered myself cursed as the unluckiest poker player on the planet ever!

I have a reasonable sng record but I've also had several runs of 13-14 games where I've not made the money and when on those runs I've felt like I could almost predict the two outer the villain was going to hit to knock me out.At cash tables this could mean buy-in after buy-in down the drain.

When the beats come thick and fast and every folded hand turns out to be a monster I've half jokingly wanted to kill the virtual dealer who has picked on little old me and decided to make my poker life a misery.Why me? Why always me? Can I not just get one damn hand to hold up?!

I'm no expert on luck and probablity and although it's easy to point to the much vaunted "long run" when it's all supposed to even out ,it often feels like my "long run" would need to be a thousand years to cover all the beats I've taken.

Reading other blogs,forums and three years of online play has made me realise that decent players suffer bad beats all the time and that the old adage of suffering more of them when you get your money in with the best of it all the time is very true.

Poker is always going to be a 3 steps forward ,two back kind of pursuit.Sometimes it may be 10-15 steps back and it seems impossible to believe there isn't some other force at work.

I suppose the luck factor is the main reason behind poker being such a damn tough game.It's probably ( along with lack of skill) the main factor preventing me moving up and giving $200nl,$400nl etc more of a shot.My experience means I know I could move up,get my Aces in v 63off preflop ( not the hammer because it's a monster!)five times in a row and lose every single one though no fault of my own.I find that thought a little scary!

To sum up, I'd say that if you feel you are the unluckiest poker player ever, then whilst it may be true, it's unlikely, and remember that the "I'm the unluckiest player ever" club has a large membership and an even bigger waiting list...

Happy Tagging

After winning that $16 sng with my Mum I didn't feel like playing much poker when I arrived home.I did log on for some pokery fun later on and left about even after two tabling Laddies 6 max for a while.I did lose a few $$ on my 365 account before playing a quick session at Inter and winning $15.

The Inter session was interesting because I've been reading a lot of stuff around the web about how a loose aggressive style is the style to aspire to and how "tight aggressive" is too predictable and wont work higher than $25nl.

I certainly don't aspire to be a loose aggressive player, although I'm not adverse to adapting to table conditions and raising more often at tight passive tables.Table selection though is key for me and I only usually play at high pot average/high flop seen games where a TAG style seems to work best.

TAG play means more than just waiting for premium hands and betting the hell out of 'em when they arrive.It means also being able to spot opportunities to use that tight image to win $$.

For example I played a short session of full ring £1-£2 on a £100 buy-in last night and folded every hand for three orbits.I then faced a button raise on my big blind and called with 76s.I floated the raiser and called his flop bet with my 7 high on a 9 9 10 flop.He checked the turn after a blank, and I led out for £18 into a £27 pot on after a blank river card.He folded.

I had many factors in my favour.First of all he may have raised lightly from the button, because I was so tight he thought he could steal from me.For the same reason when I did call and also called his 2/3 bet post flop bet, he had to be worried.

I considered a pot size bet for my river bluff but decided on a 2/3 pot bet as it looked more like I wanted a call and I was fairly sure his check on the turn meant weakness.

As I've mentioned before in my near three years of real money play, I've come across very very few excellent Loose aggressive players, and a ton of very bad ones who have helped pad my bankroll.

Stick to the basics,mix it up occasionally, and don't try and be Gus Hansen is my advice to anyone playing at my levels.

Ok,don't forget to register for the bloggerment 21 game on Sun and if your a member of raisetheriver then I'll see you tonight at the latest league game...

Here's a wee stat from the paper today...


WE are sent statistics detailing the chances of an American soldier being fatally shot in Iraq. Apparently the rate is 60 per 100,000 soldiers.

Yet the firearm death rate in Washington DC is 80 per 100,000 citizens.

The conclusion, therefore, is that the US should pull out of Washington.

Britbloggerment 21..

Equus Asinus

After a day of listening to hysterical ranters and people crying over the phone re their complaints ,I arrived home with my sausage supper and logged on to Stars at 9pm for my Heads-up match with Hammerheid last night.The only tears thereafter were mine by the end of our HU game!

I thought I played reasonably well until I made an Equus asinus ( check yer Latin!) call preflop with Ah7h and lost to AK.After that I couldn't seem to get going and lost out when my straight draw failed to hit against top pair.Congrats to Hammerheid and good luck in the next round.

I haven't really trusted myself to play good poker over the last few days and didn't play another hand until I bubbled an 18 player,$6 turbo.I was going to hit the cash tables after that but ended up walking Nacho to get some fresh air and stretch my legs.

I played a little cash at Inter afterwards and finished almost even after 1/2 hour of play.

Tonight I popped over to Mother Acorns to pick up Step A's birthday card.I bought her earings yesterday and I just hope she likes them.Step A showed me her bebo page last night and all was fine until I saw she was "friends" with a 31yr old male!Step A calmed me down by informing me her 31yr old "friend" is actually the lead singer of Linkin Park! Doh!

My Mum was delighted to tell me that she'd lost her "wee marine creature" symbol on Sharkscope earlier in the week.Tonight, just before I was leaving, she entered a $16 ,9 player sng by mistake and between the two of us we managed to take it down for a $51 profit.

Arrived home and as the ex is at work I managed to have a chat with Step A, and it went as well as I could have expected.Step A is happy to have me babysit on a Wed night when the ex is working ( after I move out) and knows I'll always be there for her if she needs me.We had a quick hug and she rushed back outside to play with her friends.I'll also need to download that msn thing one day so I can keep in touch with her that way too.


In other news I was interested to see Scottish goalkeeper Craig Gordon move from Hearts to Sunderland for a whopping £9 million.He's a quality keeper but not error free and I wonder if he'll live up to the price tag.He's no Andy Goram that's for sure!

I also read that a US baseball player named Barry Bonds has just broken the homerun record but has been tainted by links to steriod abuse.Reminds me of being a lad and being fascinated by Ben Johnsons clash with Carl Lewis in the 100m and feeling quite let down after Johnson failed the drugs test.I've no interest in baseball but as a sportsfan I hope the orignal record would stand and Bonds gets kicked out of the sport.

Ok, that's all for now...

Wed Update

Well I spoke to next door, and she has no problems with the ex or myself, and from what she said it appears the friend two doors down the ex is now spending all her time with, is a bit of a trouble maker.Bottom line though is that I should at least be able to stay where I am until my tennant leaves my flat and I can move back, which is a relief.( until she tries to come up with another excuse!)

It's Step A's birthday on Sunday and I've just called the ex to find out if we're buying a joint present (as Step A doesn't know we've split) only for the ex to tell me she told Step A a "wee while ago".I'm glad the wee one still decided to come for dinner with my family the other night but I'm pretty angry that we didn't tell her together as we'd talked about.


I've not played a lot of poker as I've been very tired and my heads not been right.Last night though,after watching Rangers beat FC Zeta 1-0 to get through to the 3rd round qualifier in the Champions league,I hit the tables.

I started at a £50nl Interpoker 6 max table and played an extremely tight game as I got to know the table and waited for any kind of decent hand or opportunity.Unfortunately I didn't get any playable hands beyond a couple of low pairs which had to be laid down post-flop, and my table also seemed to fairly solid with nobody too far out of line.

Playing such a tight game seems to work best when I've just joined a cash table, as I feel I was previously too keen to "play poker" and get action, which led to me making moves with no reads on the villains play at all.

Anyway I dropped about £10 there and registered for the $10 Headhunter mtt at 10.44pm.I took a couple of bounties and chipped up quite nicely, after deciding that I wasn't interested in scraping into the money, ( top 30 paid but 20th-30th prize was $7)and would gamble it up a bit.I stole several pots with any two cards right on the bubble, and was sitting with an 18k stack with 24 left, when I played the fatal hand that knocked me out.

I had AdJd in the big blind, ( 800/1600 blinds + antes) and a solid big stacked player made it 6k to go when it folded to him in the cut-off.He may have been solid but his bet seemed a little large and I put him on a pair 22-1010 or AK/AQ.I actually thought I had him covered ( he had 135 chips left after his call) and I shoved all in for a couple of reasons.He had an $18 bounty on his head and I hoped my bet would either force him to fold or I could win a coin flip.

He seemed to think for ages before calling with 88 and my hand didn't improve.My read was good but he could well have worked out that I knew he would raise lightly there ( he didn't need a top 5 hand as folded to him and blinds certainly worth stealing) and therefore I was more likely to push with a less than stellar hand meaning he was more likely to be ahead.

23rd and a $2 profit overall inlcuding the bounty money collected!

Tonight at 9pm on Stars I'm playing my Raisetheriver Heads-up game v Hammerheid which should be a decent battle.I've only played HU at the end of sng's when the blinds are high so it'll be a new experience for me to begin HU with low blinds.

Ok,that's all for now...

Big Issue

I've had better weekends.Ex Mrs A said on Sat night that due to third party reasons involving her falling out with neighbours,she wants me to move out this week.When I pointed out that my tennant doesn't move out until Sept 13th and that she was well aware of this,she threatened to dump my stuff on the street.

She'd calmed down later and I agreed to speak to the neighbour ( who I've always got on with) and explain I'm leaving in a few weeks and don't want any hassle.I'll also call my letting agency and see if I can get my flat back earlier.

My parents,sister and a couple of friends have offered to put me up ( or put up with me) but I really wanted to avoid making two moves and unsettling myself any further.Looks like I may not have much choice..

My parents are also selling a flat they used to rent out which is nearer Glasgow city centre and within my price range.My own place would need some decorating done before being sold if I decided to buy the new flat so it's all a bit messy.I'm just not sure how I'm going to feel moving back to my original flat.Will I feel I'm back home or will I just want out for a fresh start?

I could move back ,do it up and then sell up and move within the same area I'm in which would make it easier to see Step A and Nacho.

I have at least compiled a list of action points I need to make a start on, and although my life is in turmoil, and I'm going to miss Step A and Nacho like mad,I'm trying to keep a sense of perspective.

I didn't play much poker after that on Sat night and only played in the Britbloggerment game last night on 'Stars.Congrats to Welshyk for winning it and well done to BM for earning himself the bridesmaid dress this week.I managed 4th with the highlights being 88,AK and QQ holding up in races,the hammer costing me half my chips and finally losing when my AK didn't improve against JJ.


Looking forward to heading over to my parents with Step A for birthday dinner tonight.( ex is working)

We've still not told Step A and will have to do so shortly, though I'm sure she must sense something is wrong.Nacho knows I think as he comes and sits on my feet everytime ex Mrs A leaves the room!

Before I go thanks to Rosie and Juice for sending me the Cincinnati Kid on dvd for my birthday.Brought a smile to my face!I love the tag line "He'd take on anyone,at anything,anytime".

Ok,back later in the week...

Bloggerment League of Nations Table

Here are the current standings...



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Rolling along...

Last nights pokery fun began with a rather unspectacular 10/16 finish in the first Raisetheriver league game.Congrats to Yorkiepud for taking it down.I didn't catch many hands and eventually ran my AK into a pair and didn't improve.

Next up was Interpokers $11 headhunter tourney and although I didn't make the money ( 53rd) I did take a few bounties and managed to cover the cost of my buy-in.Well done to Dudley for winning £144 in the ££ game later on.

The cash tables were calling and I settled down at a Laddies $100 nl full ring table which was more than a little loose.I lost my $100 buy-in when I slow played 55 on a 10 5 A flop,checking after another Ace on the turn and hoping I was letting someone catch up a little.An innocent looking 6 on the river gave Mr 66 the better full house and I couldn't get away from his all in raise.

The good news is that I didn't gulp at losing $100 ( seems to feel just like losing a $50 buy-in does).I hit a couple of 6 max tables and pulled back $20 before I spotted a very juicy looking $200nl full ring table and decided to get invloved.I won my first pot with a semi-bluff flush draw which boosted my confidence, before I won one a $422 pot ( $230 profit) with the mighty J10.

This is how it went down...

** Game ID 803075995 starting - 2007-08-04 03:39:25
** The Strand [Hold 'em] (1.00|2.00 No Limit - Cash Game) Real Money

- staffy-king sitting in seat 1 with $40.90
- nofhopec sitting in seat 2 with $225.88 [Dealer]
- Acornman sitting in seat 3 with $197.00
- swapper sitting in seat 4 with $189.60 :Only played 5 hands but had seen every flop and already looks like he may be tilty.

- sparksride sitting in seat 5 with $114.96
- tigerlily sitting in seat 6 with $80.00
- kenn213 sitting in seat 7 with $257.46
- Salvadanaro sitting in seat 8 with $246.85
- vika sitting in seat 9 with $94.00
- darlolalex sitting in seat 10 with $286.31

Acornman posted the small blind - $1.00
swapper posted the big blind - $2.00
** Dealing card to Acornman: Jack of Spades, 10 of Hearts
sparksride raised - $4.00
tigerlily called - $4.00
kenn213 folded
Salvadanaro called - $4.00
vika folded
darlolalex folded
staffy-king folded
nofhopec called - $4.00

Acornman called - $4.00 : J10 is not a hand to go to war with preflop but a $3 call into a $19 pot here is almost automatic.

swapper raised - $6.00
sparksride called - $6.00
tigerlily called - $6.00
Salvadanaro called - $6.00
nofhopec called - $6.00
Acornman called - $6.00: Not keen on the reraise from swapper but not folding for another $2 in a million years.

** Dealing the flop: Jack of Diamonds, 7 of Clubs, 9 of Clubs

Acornman checked :Perhaps this was a weak check and I should have bet to find out where I was, but the average pot was $69 and I didn't want to have to fold to a reraise here.

swapper bet - $18.00
sparksride called - $18.00
tigerlily folded
Salvadanaro folded
nofhopec folded
Acornman called - $18.00:pot is a good size and though I'm not sure I'm ahead, sparksride has already called an all in preflop with j2h ( and won)and his call here doesn't worry me too much.swappers bet didn't seem too strong either.( 1/2 pot)

** Dealing the turn: King of Spades

Acornman bet - $24.00:I was trying to take control of the pot here and slow down the villains because I really didn't want to have to call a bet much bigger than this from them with only my J10.

swapper called - $24.00: This backed up my feeling that he wasn't too strong.

sparksride folded: Glad he dropped out.

** Dealing the river: 3 of Spades

Acornman bet - $69.00 : went with my gut feeling and bet out as I felt swapper was weak.

swapper went all-in - $143.60

Acornman called - $143.60 : Very close call indeed.I did think he was weak but now? Hmmm.I went into the tank and looked back over the betting so far.Surely he would have reraised more preflop with QQ/KK/AA, and although he made a post flop bet continuation bet, it was only half the pot which smelled weak.His call on the turn when I bet out after the scary King fell also seemed weak.Calling another $70 into a pot of $347 seemed like decent value.

swapper shows: 10 of Clubs, 10 of Spades
Acornman shows: Jack of Spades, 10 of Hearts
Acornman wins $422.20 from the main pot : Ship it!

I won a $97 pot with AJ v KJ on a 10 J J 3 5 board not long afterwards after limping with my AJ.I was pleased with my play in that hand too, because a villain who had limped too preflop bet out $15,another went all in for $35 and I reraised to $120 ,forcing out the first villain.The first guy wouldn't bet out like that if he had J10 or 1010 and therefore I had to conclude I had him beaten ( QK maybe?) and I was spot on with my read on the all in guy.( KJ /QJ or A10/K10 type hand).

My table broke up and I headed over to Bet365 to have a last blast there before bed.I had two tables going there, when either the site lag or laptop slowed right down, and I timed out with trip Queens on a ragged board with the villain betting into me.Why is it the moment my hand was folded by the software, the "I'm back" button suddenly appeared and activated right away despite me frantically spending the previous two minutes pounding the reraise and even the "all in" button?!

That tilted me slightly and it went tits up for a while as I lost my 365 cash table winnings from Thursday night due to a couple of poorly played $10 turbos and some cash table donkery.

I took a wee break,sorted my head out and took a shot at a $200 nl 6 max table at 365.Pocket tens have been lucky for me this week and were again as I called a preflop raise with them and hit trip tens on the flop.After my checking down disaster with the 55 earlier I didn't mess about and reraised the villains continuation bet on a J 10 6 board.He reraised and we ended up all in on that flop.The turn was a K, the river an Ace and I half expected the villain to show a Queen and scoop the pot, but his cards hit the virtual muck and I'd doubled my $200 starting stack.

I did go to bed not long after that ( 5am!) and was feeling very happy indeed with my nights work.The main positives were losing the $100 early on and not being too bothered,my big hands holding up and actually acting upon my reads and instincts most of the time.

Ok, I'm far too tired to write anymore just now.Don't forget to register for tomorrow nights Bloggerment game...

Britbloggerment 20! All Welcome....

Pimpage + Winning again...

Pimpage first, and don't forget to register ( it's in lobby now under private) for Bloggerment 20 at Stars this Sunday at 9pm bst( 4pm est).The cost is only $5.50,the password is donkament and everyone who blogs or reads blogs ( or just has the ability to read,we're not fussy!) will be made more than welcome.Hopefully we can even beat last weeks record 39 runner turnout.

There's also still time to sign up at the raisetheriver.com forum and join in the Friday night $5.50 league game hosted by the forums heid honchos at 8.30pm.I'm looking forward to both games!

I warmed up last night by winning a $5 extreme turbo on bet365 and then failing to make the money in a couple more.I hit the Interpoker headhunter mtt and failed miserably,eventually pushing my 55 into AA to crash out.

I went back to 365 and dropped $15 at a full ring table before finally getting into my stride by tilting a fish.First of all I made a straight flush with my 910c and beat his full house.This prompted him to suggest I like masterbation and me to reply with a sacrastic "ty".He then said he would take my chips to which I replied "sure you will".

I was lucky enough to pick up QQ on the next hand and as the fish had sat out to rebuy and paid the dead blind to sit back early, I raised 6bb and waited for him to take the bait.He did call, and we were the only ones left in to see an 8 10 J flop.I bet and the fish raised.Holding two Queens meant I wasn't worried he'd flopped a straight and the only hands that really seemed likely to worry me were J10 or trips.

I reckoned he was probably desparate enough to also raise me with a hand like AJ,KJ here too, so I reraised and we eventually got all our chips in.The turn and river were blanks and I nearly fell off my seat when he showed K4 and the pot came my way.I typed a quick "ty again" before he swore a lot,rebought and left ten minutes later.

The table tightened and seemed solid after that which meant it was time to move.This time it was to a 6 max table which seemed quite tight until "navydavid" sat down and began raising most hands preflop.I finally picked up 1010 and called a $2 raise from the small blind.

Navydavid called too and bet out 1 1/2 times the pot on a ragged K 7 4.It folded to me and although any hand with a King in it was perfectly possible, his bet just struck me as too much for someone holding a King on such a ragged draw free board.

It folded to me and I flat called.When he led out for about double his flop bet after a blank turn card I flat called again and watched as a beautiful 10 fell on the river.One of my cash game leaks can be that I always bet out on the river with a big hand when first to act, even if the villain has been doing all the betting up until that point.This time I checked and let the villain hang himself by making a big bet which I obviously came over the top of.

The pot came my way and although unforunately the software didn't show me his mucked hand I didn't care too much.

Poker tonight, followed by watching Rangers first league game of the season away in Inverness tomorrow at 12.30 on the box.Not much else planned until Monday when I'm heading over to my Maw and Paws for my birthday dinner.

See you at the table...

Donkerama

First up,Happy Birthday to Rosie the Rottie! Have a good one!

Other than wishing Rosie all the best for today I don't have much to blog about.It's just aswell I make donkey plays and can witter on for paragraphs about them!

I didn't start playing any poker until fairly late on last night.I was chatting to Juice,Mr Edge and Rosie and locked myself out of my Bet 365 account in error.Doh!

We did finally all jump into a $6.50 ,18 player turbo at Stars and after one failure ,we played another which I managed to come 2nd in.

I should probably have gone to bed but ended up hitting a $100nl 6 max table at Inter where I played quite well until my moment of donkery.I blame that familiar last hand/orbit syndrome leak I seem to have, where I can't seem to fold garbage hands just before I leave the table.

This time it was the powerhouse hand QJ soooted.It was raised to 4bb by the UTG player and I had intended to fold until there was another caller before me and I used pot odds to justify my call.( fishy excuse of the year!)

The flop came 8 high with 2 clubs giving me a flush draw, and I remember calling what seemed like a weak continutation bet.Another 8 on the turn and I called yet another bet, hoping if the villain was on AK/AQ then a push by me on the river would force him to fold.

I had hoped to possibly represent the 8 if my flush draw failed but another 8 on the river meant any attempt to represent it looked unlikely now as I'd have to have dem quad biatches.

The villain checked to me and instead of following my instinct which said he'd missed this board ,I checked my Q high too and his AK ( Ace high) took the pot.My only defence is that I hadn't been at the table long enough to have any clue if the villain would have called an all in push on the river.

Ok,that's all for today....

Bloggerment Banner ideas

As the title says Burnley Mik and I have decided that although there have been some brilliant banners made for the Bloggerment games ,we would prefer ( like the Americans do with their Mondays at the Hoy,Mookie etc) to have one banner which people could post permanently on blogs,forums etc.See Mookies blog for an idea of what I'm on about.

If anyone has any design ideas please email me,leave a comment or post on the Raise the River forum.Thanks.



I think I may have found a new poker home at Bet365 which I only deposited at to play in last weekends charity tourney.

On Monday night I ran my $60 up to $160 and last night I increased that by another $100.This was after I'd got back from watching a scrappy 2-0 win for Rangers over footballing giants FC Zeta.


I began by playing some of their extreme turbo sng's and I couldn't believe how soft they were.I won a couple of $5 ones before making the top 2 ( good way of saying I came 2nd twice!) a couple of times in ten seater, $10 games.The $5 shorthanded games were almost like play money and I was amazed to find I'd made $50 profit in around 45 minutes overall at these sngs.


The extreme turbos format means the blinds rise almost twice per orbit which is very fast indeed, however it also means a tourney can be over within 10-15 minutes.It would be easy to say there's no skill involved in these donkfests, however I reckon there's still a definite edge to be had there and the speed of the games makes them a certain ev+ proposition over the long run.

After my tourney fun I had no trouble finding a juicy wee $50nl 6 max table with a $17 average pot and 47% flop seen.Four players calling a 5bb preflop raise seemed the norm at this table and it truly reminded more of $25nl than $50.I did quite well and left $50 up after 1/2 hours play.

I did get my Aces busted by Mr 67 o/s who called my all in bet ( he had a $15 stack) after a flop of 6 K Q ,only to hit his 7 on the river, although that just made me smile and appreciate just what a fish tank I'd discovered!

The software seems identical to Ladbrokes and the players are even worse.I just wish the "buddy" system was not by invite only and it was possible to simply add fish and find them easily again without their acceptance.

Overall since splitting with ex Mrs A I've found myself being far more focussed at the tables rather than flailing around in the self-pitying tilt mode I'd half expected of myself.Financially moving back home to my flat will be far tougher than my current situation but I'm not exactly poverty stricken.It will mean more saving and a definite effort to keep the credit card balance in check.I didn't have a poker hobby when I lived there previously though, and I'm hoping I can continue to use my poker profits for the larger expenses such as car insurance,Rangers season ticket,decorating etc.

Ok,thanks for reading...